By Otobong Gabriel, Abuja
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Tuesday ordered the remand of Alhaji Danjuma Mohammed, National Coordinator of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), and his associate, Prince Chibuike Echem, at Suleja Prison, Niger State, pending the commencement of their trial.
Justice Kezaiah Ogbonna issued the remand order following the arraignment of the defendants on a 55-count charge, which includes allegations of advance fee fraud, forgery, and awarding of fake contracts totaling over N5 billion.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in the charge marked CR/708/25, alleged that Mohammed, Echem, and another suspect, Aminu Alhaji (currently at large), defrauded Kenneth Ejiofor Ifekudu, Managing Director of Diamond Leeds Ltd, of N2.2 billion between May 2022 and February 2024.
The alleged fraud was carried out under the guise of awarding contracts from the NEDC.
In a separate count, Mohammed and Echem were accused of obtaining N649.5 million from Ifekudu in 2023, using Echem’s bank account, falsely claiming they could award contracts from the Multi-Sectoral Crisis Recovery Project (MCRP) of the NEDC.
The defendants were also alleged to have collected another N573 million through the same scheme.
Additionally, EFCC stated that Mohammed and Echem fraudulently obtained $480,000 and $200,000 from the contractor between January and December 2022.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges. EFCC lawyer Olarenwaju Adeola requested a trial commencement date, while the defendants’ counsel, Chukwuka Obidike, sought bail for his clients.
The prosecution opposed the bail, arguing that the application was not ripe for hearing as it was filed late and no counter affidavit had been submitted.
Justice Ogbonna ruled in favor of the prosecution, stating that hearing the bail application at this stage would deny EFCC a fair hearing. The trial was subsequently scheduled to run from March 25 to April 7, 2026.
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